Organic Living Fair will help green lifestyles grow

According to Grant’s Gardens and WaterWise Solutions owner Grant Beatt, property managers and residents face a number of problems when it comes to sustainable landscaping and water conservation. When turf, palms, trees, shrubs and groundcovers don’t perform optimally, landscapers tend to over water, prune incorrectly and use fertilizer, insecticides and fungicides to correct the problems, and if those solutions don’t work, they’re often forced to replace expensive plantings and landscapes.

To address these problems, Beatt has organized the first Longboat Key Organic Living Fair, which will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, March 12, at Joan M. Durante Park, 5550 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

“I worked up North as a horticulturist for many years before starting a landscaping business here in Florida,” said Beatt in a prepared statement. “Florida is a unique environment, quite different from the rest of the country. It took me about five years to feel I understood the environment as well as the impact traditional landscaping activities were having on it.”

The event is free and open to the public and will feature education and information from the Sarasota County Extension Office, Southwest Florida Water Management District, Longboat Key Garden Club and the Florida House, as well as experts from Grant’s Gardens, Big Earth Supply, Lucas Lagoons, Raindrops Cisterns, Bethel Farms and EcoTechno. The fair will also feature organic products and services and a farmers market.

“This is our way of giving back to the community on Longboat Key to help reverse the degradation of our most important resources — streams, rivers, creeks, waterways, estuaries and bays,” Beatt said in the prepared statement.

For information, contact Sandy Brown at 232-0623.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].